WILDCATS CLINCH
LEAGUE CROWN

Any questions as to whether Paloma Valley High’s wrestling team could build on its unexpected second-place finish in the Riverside County Championships earlier this month were answered loud and clear Wednesday night.

Paloma Valley won five matches by technical fall and routed two-time defending Sunbelt League champion Temescal Canyon, 45-19, to clinch its first league title since 2010.

“These guys have worked so hard for this,” Paloma Valley coach Brian Kingman said. “Not just for the season, but this is years of effort they have put into this.

“In March of last year, after the season ended, these guys made a commitment to work hard in the spring, summer and fall with the goal being to win league and a CIF championship.”

The Wildcats are now halfway to that goal after beating the Titans for the first time since they joined the Sunbelt League in 2011.

Paloma Valley showcased a sense of urgency to start the match, as it jumped out to a 15-0 lead after the first four bouts. Two wins by Titans wrestlers, in the 197-pound and 222-pound weight classes, closed the gap to six points.

But Temescal Canyon could get no closer, as Paloma Valley standouts Chris Kocay (heavyweight) and Jose Espinoza (108) earned back-to-back pins to give the Wildcats an insurmountable lead.

Espinoza, a senior who captured a Riverside County Championships medal in the 106-pound weight class, said it was rewarding to finally get a win over Temescal Canyon.

“It means the world to us,” Espinoza said. “They came into this league and they took our title, and now after three long years of hard work, we got it back.”

“It was a snowball effect out there tonight. We started off strong and were hyped up from there.”

Kingman said he has never had a wrestler as dedicated as Espinoza in his 12 years of coaching.

“This kid wants to wrestle all the time; he loves the sport,” Kingman said. “He pushes himself hard and does a great job with the little things like managing his weight and staying in good shape.”

After a final league match next week, Paloma Valley can set its sights on achieving a feat that Temescal Canyon accomplished in 2011 — capturing the CIF Southern Section Division III dual championship.

Paloma Valley has never won a CIF championship in school history.

Other Wildcats to record pins on Wednesday were Charlie Wallace (184), Michael Stafford (134) and Nick Hughes (147). The Titans got pins from Michael Pacheco (197) and Adrian Navarro (122).